Red Bull RB5

Red Bull officially unveiled the car with which they will contest the 2009 world championship on Monday morning. The wraps came off the RB5 at the Jerez circuit in Spain, with drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in attendance.

The team are confident the Renault-powered machine, again designed by Adrian Newey, will allow them to improve on their seventh place in the 2008 standings and perhaps even bring them their maiden win.

The RB5’s design encompasses the wide-ranging regulation changes that have been brought in to cut costs and boost overtaking for the 2009 season, and Newey admitted it has been quite a challenge.

“2009 arguably sees the biggest rule change since flat bottoms were introduced in 1983, a very major change,” he said. “We have taken a clean sheet, blue-sky approach, looking at the implications of these rules and how to interpret them, while not changing things simply for the sake of it. Apart from the gearbox internals, there is hardly any carry-over from RB4.”

A quick glance at the new Red Bull’s nose immediately marks it out from its rivals, with a higher and narrower nosecone than that seen on other teams’ cars to date. The RB5 also features what should be a more powerful engine, after Renault were allowed to make modifications to their V8 over the winter in order to help equalise outputs.

Vettel is due to give the car its maiden run on Monday, while Webber will be behind the wheel on Wednesday for his first test since breaking his leg in a cycling accident late last year.